Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 1, 1990
Film Realistically Depicts
Family Coping With Loss
JESSICA LANGE STARS — Jessica Lange as Beth, a housewife
forced to be a single parent when her husband dies suddenly, shares a
happy moment with her sons Chris (Chris O’Donnell, left) and Matt
(Charlie Korsmo) in “Men Don’t Leave.” (CNS photo from Geffen
Film Co.)
man and her shock and
loneliness are real. O’Don
nell and Korsmo, who
make their acting debuts
here, are especially win
ning. O’Donnell pulls out
all the stops when he begs
Charles to make one more
attempt to court his
mother. And Korsmo is
both adorable and heart
breaking as little boy lost.
Matt. As Chris’s nutty
friend, lover and surrogate
mom. Miss Cusack almost
steals the show, adding
much needed levity to a
pretty grim family sce
nario.
Although this film deals
with many real issues
faced by young people
grieving the death of a
parent, younger children
might be upset by its depiction of the sudden loss of a
parent. Also since the 17-year-old adolescent is involved in a
sexual relationship with an older woman, despite his
mother s clear disapproval, parents and adolescents may
need to share and discuss their viewing of this otherwise
relevant film about loss, grief and family renewal.
Due to some rough language and sexual situations involv
ing an adolescent, the U.S. Catholic Conference classifica
tion is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of
America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned that
some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
“Torrents of Spring”
Visually lovely, emotionally bland version of the Ivan
Turgenev novel about a 19th-century Russian nobleman
(Timothy Hutton) traveling in Germany who becomes
engaged to a sweet Italian immigrant (Valeria Golino) and
then immediately falls passionately in love with the wanton
wife (Nastassja'Kinski) of an old school chum. Director
Jerzy Skolimowski does not clearly delineate the time and
place of this lushly filmed,- oddly cast, multinational pro
duction, nor do he and his one-dimensional characters fully
explore Turgenev’s cautionary tale of misdirected love.
Mature theme and a lengthy, clothed adulterous liaison
The U.S. Catholic Conference classjfication is A-Ill —
adults. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of
America.
“Courage Mountain”
Uninspired but wholesome story of 14-year-old Heidi
(Juliette Caton), who is forced from an Italian boarding
school into a rat-infested orphanage by the disruptions ol
World War I. Director Christopher Leitch strains credibili
ty with some pretty far-fetched action as Heidi and her
school friends escape from the orphanage across the Alps to
Switzerland in the dead of winter. Children will enjoy hiss
ing at the despicable owners of the orphanage, and young
adolescents will be charmed by the hints ol a blossoming
romance between Heidi and her dashing soldier friend
(Charlie Sheen). Some comic-book menace and minimal
battlefield carnage. The U.S. Catholic Conference
classification is A-I — general patronage. The Motion Pic
ture Association of America rating is PG — parental
guidance suggested.
‘The Incident' Offers Perspective, Nostalgia
NOSTALGIC PROGRAM — Walter Matthau
(standing) stars as a down-and-out lawyer
forced to defend a German prisoner of war and
Barnard Hughes plays a popular small-town
doctor with something to hide in “The
Incident,” an AT&T Presents drama about a
murder trial during World War II. (CNS photo
from AT&T)
BY JUDITH TROJAN
NEW YORK (CNS) — Single motherhood is in vogue in
the cinema and the most realistic, unsentimental film of the
batch is “Men Don’t Leave” (Warner Bros.), a pastiche of
family crises and coping mechanisms put into play by the
death of a father.
Director Paul Brickman and screenwriter Barbara
Benedek sensitively zero in on Beth Macauley (Jessica
Lange), a comfortably set and much loved wife of rugged
John (Tom Mason) and the mother of two strapping boys,
17-year-old Chris (Chris O’Donnell) and 10-year-old Matt
(Charlie Korsmo). Matt frames the film with an opening
and closing voice-over narrative about feeling safe, a state
of mind that is immediately lost when his father is killed in
a work-site explosion.
The quintessential housewife, Beth numbly faces the
reality of her loss and sizable debts and the need to join the
work force to keep a roof over her family’s head. Accus
tomed to living in a lovely country home, she is forced to
sell everything and move the boys to a stifling urban
Baltimore apartment. What follows are the various
mechanisms used by Beth and her sons to deal with their
grief, which is compounded by the sudden loss of their com
fortable lifestyle.
Each family member must learn to adapt to the reality at
hand and ultimately to realign as a new family unit, minus
Dad. In cases where their grief was initially stifled, it even
tually comes to the fore through self-destructive behavior.
Little Matt refuses to cry over his dad and secretly fears
that he now will lose his mother, too. So he takes up with a
pint-sized thief (Corey Carrier) who teaches him how to
steal VCRs and fence them for cash that Matt then recycles
into lottery tickets. He hopes to use his winnings to buy back
the family home and save his mother’s life.
Chris is gladly seduced by a whimsical X-ray technician
(Joan Cusack), several years his senior. Despite his
precocious May-September sexual relationship, he resents
his mother’s friendship with an avant-garde musician.
Charles (Arliss Howard). Although Charles is every
woman’s dream man — sensitive, paternal, patient and
kind — he is no match for Chris or Beth, who pulls away
before the couple can get to first base.
Beth is virtually a mess of contradictions which is to be
expected. She handles the post-funeral planning, moving,
settling in and job search well. But when none ol the above
turns out as expected and her sons begin drifting into other
“family” units to regain a semblance of security, Beth
becomes more and more isolated and retreats to her bed.
Miss Lange is totally believable and poignant as Beth, a
contented career housewife suddenly forced to be both
mother and father to her sons. Her attempts to cope with
her own and her sons’ grief, her first feelings for another
BY HENRY HERX
NEW YORK (CNS) — Walter Matthau stars as a small
town lawyer defending a German prisoner of war accused
of murder in “The Incident,” an intriguing drama airing
Sunday, March 4, 9-11 p.m. EST on CBS.
The time is World War II and the place is a sleepy little
community in Colorado where Harmon Cobb (Matthau)
practices law and lives with his daughter-in-law (Susan
Blakely) and granddaughter (Ariana Richards) while his
son is a soldier in Europe.
Nearby is an Army base guarding captured German
soldiers. When the town’s doctor (Barnard Hughes) is
murdered at the base and a German prisoner (Peter Firth)
is accused of the crime, the case is tried by a federal judge
(Harry Morgan) who insists that Cobb undertake the
defense.
Cobb agrees though he doesn’t want to, especially when
some of his neighbors shun him for being a Nazi sym
pathizer and his client refuses to cooperate. The case
presented by the prosecutor (Robert Carradine) seems air
tight until Cobb chances upon a troubling bit of evidence
that turns the trial upside down.
One clue leads to another and there are some surprising
twists to what had at first seemed such an open-and-shut
case. In the end, the identity of the real killer is established,
murderous activities at the base are uncovered and the
Judge’s motivation in forcing Cobb to defend the German is
revealed.
What gives these ingredients special interest is their
placement in a nostalgic landscape where the homespun
virtues of small-town American life are suddenly subverted
by the patriotic passions of wartime. Despite the hostility of
the community and his own personal reluctance, Cobb
doesn’t waver from his responsibilities to his client and the
principle that a man is innocent until proven guilty.
As usual, Matthau gives one of his easy-to-take perfor
mances as a stubborn old codger with no pretensions and a
keen sense of irony. His close, caring relationship with his
son's wife and young daughter adds a further sympathetic
dimension to his character.
Scriptwriters Michael Norell and James Norell have con
cocted a plot that uses its period setting well to tell a story
of wartime excesses on the home front, government
machinations and a justice system that works despite the
flaws of those who administer it. It employs the usual good
German-bad Nazi stereotypes but this is only a plot elemenl
and not really central to the story.
Veteran director Joseph Sargent handles the small-town
setting very well and is right on target with period radio
shows and other indications of the story’s 1944 era. Though
Matthau is at the center of the piece, he gets solid support
from a good cast, especially the warm feeling of family pro
vided by Miss Blakely and young Miss Richards.
For some the program will be nostalgic; for others it may
provide a fresh perspective on the World War II home tront.
It’s, a drama worth watching by all but the youngest
members of the family.
( >
Mass Televised
SUNDAY, MARCH 4
THE CATHOLIC MASS — The Mass will be tele
vised at the following times:
8:30a.m. on WOR-TV (Channel Hon Prime Cable).
9 a.m. on WGN-TV (Channel 15 on Prime Cable).
10 a.m. on WVEU-TV (Channel 69).
The Mass for the First Sunday of Lent will be
celebrated by Father John Duff. The program is pro
duced by Passionist Communications. To obtain a
missalette for the Mass, write Passionist Com
munications, Inc.. The Sunday Mass. P. 0. Box 440,
Pelham. N.Y. 10803.
^ /